Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn’t Commit

“Immensely compelling. ... If it were fiction, no one would believe it. Kerry Cook’s account of his nightmare is fascinating.” –John Grisham

“Cook’s story is so gripping that only a heart of steel won’t break after reading it.” –People

An Edgar Award Finalist - Best Fact Crime Book | A Dallas Morning News Bestseller

The harrowing, inspiring, and beautifully written story of a man wrongly sent to death row for two decades by the state of Texas.

In 1977, at age 19, Kerry Max Cook was arrested and wrongly convicted of the capital murder of a young woman in Tyler, Texas. On death row, when Cook wasn’t struggling to survive amid vicious inmates and inhumane conditions, he was fighting a justice system determined to muzzle him and loath to admit their horrendous mistake. Through his perseverance and the hard work of a team of crusading lawyers, his death sentence was reversed-11 days before his planned execution in late 1996.

Here is Cook’s story, in his own heartbreaking and moving words. Sure to spark debate about the American judicial system and the death penalty, Chasing Justice is an inspiration to anyone who has struggled to master the hand life has dealt.

Kerry Max Cook was born in Stuttgart, Germany, and spent much of his youth on army bases in Europe. In 1972, he and his family returned to the United States to live in Texas. Since gaining his freedom, Cook has been an outspoken advocate for legal reform. He has made numerous national and international media appearances and has lectured at Princeton, Yale, and the University of Chicago. His story was incorporated into the acclaimed play The Exonerated, of which he is often a cast member. He was awarded a Soros Justice Fellowship to write Chasing Justice.